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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/29330184">The Downfall</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pummarola/pseuds/Pummarola'>Pummarola</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Death Star (Star Wars), Gen, Imperial Officers (Star Wars), Jedi Purge (Star Wars), Mentioned Clone Troopers (Star Wars), Mentioned Stormtroopers (Star Wars), Order 66 (Star Wars), Planet Coruscant (Star Wars), Planet Naboo (Star Wars)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-02-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 11:14:07</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,025</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/29330184</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pummarola/pseuds/Pummarola</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Originally I wrote this short story for a competition called Starwords 2005 as part of the celebrations for the release of (what we then thought was) the last movie of the Star Wars saga. The judges liked my short story and I was awarded with second prize.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It’s a rainy night, in the smoggy shallows of Coruscant. A man wrapped in a dark green cape is on the run through the desolate alleys of the industrial quarter, chased by some troopers in white armor. As soon as he is on sight they shoot at him, but their blaster shots inevitably end up missing the target, bursting on the battered corners of the surrounding old buildings. The man with the green cape is too fast for them: he manages to leave them behind, finding refuge in the inner courtyard of an old miner droids factory, now mostly a bunch of ruins. He feels safe there, but soon a dozen of clone soldiers pop up from every corner, trying to slowly surrounding him. One of them shoots to kill, but the fugitive quickly draws a lightsaber from under his cape and deflects the blaster shot towards another soldier, chucking him on a wall with a breach in his chest. The following battle is skilfully handled by the man with the green cape. He deflects every blaster shots with his lightsaber the way only a Jedi can do, but the stormtroopers still manage to corner him. He then plays his last card: escaping with a long vertical jump that would be considered inhuman only by someone who has never seen a Jedi knight in action. But it is a matter of a few seconds and the Jedi, almost free from his enemies and ready to vanish in the outskirts of the city (possibly leaving the planet on a clandestine convoy), suddenly vanishes in the air. A light rain of burnt crumbles falls on the white helmets. What is left of the unlucky Jedi knight are just a few scattered and dusty ashes, quickly dissolving in the rain.</p>
<p>On the top of a building not far from there, a slim man in grey uniform with a long sniper blaster-rifle draws a smile on his face. This same man is shortly after bowing to the man that was once known as Senator Palpatine. He says “My Lord, the last Jedi is dead. This is what is left of him”, releasing the ashes he holds in his fist on the floor between him and the soon-to-be Emperor.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>More than twenty years have passed since that moment. The man who then thought he killed the last Jedi of the galaxy is now one of the most important officers of the Imperial Army. He got to know Palpatine a long time ago, when he was a royal guard in the city of Theed. Then he became his personal bodyguard when Palpatine was elected senator and representative of their planet on Coruscant. After the Naboo crisis, when Palpatine became Chancellor, he wanted to keep Erwin Farragute (that is the name of our man) with him, because he was aware of his professionalism and efficiency. They developed a strong mutual esteem during the years they worked together. When the Clone Wars started Farragute was sent by Palpatine to fight on the first line against the Separatists as the commander of a legion of clone soldiers. When the war was over, he did not stop serving the man who encouraged and supported him throughout his successful military career: he joined the hunt for the new enemies of the galactic peace, the Jedis, and he killed many. Thanks to his strategic and fighting abilities he soon became one of the most respected generals of the Empire. He never publicly exposed himself too much, but perhaps he was the one who after all served better than anyone else the Emperor. During the following years he kept leading military expeditions in the most remotes corners of the galaxy, with the purpose of killing the newly born Rebel Alliance and stop several riots arisen where people were unhappy of the new empire. He had all the stormtroopers and the war machines he could have, and he did not hesitate to use them whenever it became necessary.</p><p>He kept working dutifully even after a terrible defeat like the destruction of the Death Star. But more recently he started pondering about this interminable war between the Galactic Empire and their enemies: it was never coming to an end. Or leading to the new order that would have ensured the universal peace he was hoping for, which is the main reason why he faithfully served Palpatine during all those years. Erwin Farragute never imagined where these thoughts would have eventually lead him, and what kind of action he would have ended up undertaking after long hesitation.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The second Death Star. Soon to be even more deadly and powerful than the previous one, but at the moment it is still a widely incomplete structure trying to become spherical. However its central core is already active, with several training and planning operations already happening in several sectors of the station, with the Rebel Alliance (and actually most of the Empire as well) totally unaware of all this. A shuttle is approaching: it comes from the Star Destroyer Intruder, returning from Bespin where General Farragute and his troopers went to crush an armed insurrection of citizens that were trying to take back the control of Cloud City. After landing on one of the main hangars, Erwin Farragute leaves the shuttle, still wearing his grey field uniform. He doesn’t look tired, but he truly is, especially inside: the times when it was not only a duty but also an honour to serve his Emperor are long gone. He feels like he keeps accepting dangerous high risk missions, very often involving direct clash with the enemy, only because real action is the only thing that takes him mind away from the real situation: the war will never be over. And the Emperor is not anymore the man he used to be: he became a fool that put aside his best efforts, diverting his attention towards those stupid old religions involving Jedis and the Force. During the last few years he started fostering more and more useless tantrums of fanatics like Darth Vader, neglecting those who were instead serving the Empire for real carrying out acts of war in the most critical areas of the galaxy.</p><p>With these thoughts in mind he approaches his cabin, where his luggage is already prepared: in fact after a series of recent successful operations he received an official invitation from the Emperor, to be publicly awarded during a military parade on Coruscant with a special praise, awarded only to very few deserving officers. Soon he is going to see again the man he always supported despite he became more and more disappointed of him. He is tired, but he cannot go to sleep: after having a shower and wearing a clean uniform, he leaves going towards a widely unfinished area of the new Death Star.</p><p>After taking a few lifts and descending some stairs in the dark, Erwin reaches a door he opens by entering a numerical code on the nearby console. When the door slides aside he sees what he expected: a little dark room, with unfinished floor and walls and a weak light bulb coming down from the ceiling. Some men with his same uniform are gathered around a temporary table in the centre of the room. He joins them without saying a single word, they wait a few seconds until one last officer joins them, after sealing the room with a special locking code. After a few seconds Erwin Farragute starts talking.</p><p>“Gentlemen, we are here tonight to decide the last details of the plan we have been discussing about during our last meetings. There is something we all agree on: we cannot tolerate any further the misbehaviour of Emperor Palpatine.</p><p>When many years ago we took our vow of faithfulness to the Emperor, we did it for the common good of all the planets of the Empire: the Galactic Republic was becoming a bloated system, obstructed by bureaucracy, and it couldn’t work anymore unless someone was going to step in and take over the situation to put some order. This is what Palpatine did when he was Chancellor, and he did not fail. But then a hostile entity made its appearance, the Rebel Alliance: we underestimated it, and they managed to destroy our definitive weapon. This is when the Empire started showing signs of weakness, and our Emperor has proven to be unable to face this situation by putting the safety of the Empire in the hands of fools like Darth Vader or Prince Xizor, or even unreliable bounty hunters. He wasted time and resources running after useless relics (you all remember when he sent some of us in search for Jedi talismans on the moons of Kashyyyk), forgetting the security of the Empire and leaving free of action to antagonist forces.</p><p>At this point not even his most faithful servants, us, are unable to tolerate all this any longer. And we are reluctantly forced to correct this unbearable situation. My invitation to the Imperial Center to be publicly awarded by the Emperor himself is the perfect occasion we were waiting for. On that occasion we will complete our extreme act to save the Empire: the assassination of the Emperor. All his puppets will be lost without him, and having under our command most of the Imperial troops we will have no problem taking over and imposing a solid galactic order. You will see him awarding me, but he will actually award a clone, and identical copy of myself without any willingness but mine. In the meantime I will be on the top of a nearby building with my sniper blaster-rifle, and I will use it to shoot the Emperor. Right after that, every one of you will instruct his own troops to occupy the Imperial Palace, and you already know what to do after that.</p><p>There is only one question I have to ask at this point. Are there any second thoughts? If any of you wants to take a step back, this is the right moment”. Some seconds pass, no one speak. “All right then, everything is sorted. This meeting is over. I will see you all in one week time on Coruscant”. Then one after the other leave the room.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>One week later, on Coruscant. The day before the assassination of the Emperor. None of them met again since the meeting they attended six days earlier: everything is decided and no one can withdraw anymore. Erwin Farragute sits in his apartment. If everything goes to plan, in a few days he will be one of the high members of a council of Imperial officers that will rule on the Empire for the following decades. The price to pay for this honour is high though: to murder someone who has always been an important figure for him, despite everything. While thinking about this, he receives an unexpected message. The Emperor wants to see him. Now. Erwin can just obey and go to the meeting, having a bad feeling about this.</p>
<p>The Imperial hall. A very large but Spartan room, with some sun light coming in from thin windows at the pavement level. At the other end of the room there is a short staircase with an austere throne, and a man sat on it with a likewise austere attire: a simple black cape. General Farragute approaches the figure, the Emperor does not move, as if he was still alone. Erwin thinks that good old Senator Palpatine would have approached to shake hands. When he arrives just a few metres to him, he takes his beret off, and bows. “It’s been a long time, my friend”, says the Emperor, “we used to spend a lot of time together, didn’t we? I’m happy to see you again, Erwin Farragute”. The Emperor stands up, moves towards his old friend encouraging him to rise and shake hands. “Despite my current concerns I am always happy to meet again a fellow citizen of my native planet. However this is not going to be the topic of our conversation”, Palpatine says while he sits down again, putting on a serious face.</p>
<p>“I am aware of your plan. I know that you and some of your peers have plotted my assassination. Don’t ask me how I know it, you soldiers will never be able to understand how big is the power of the Force and of those who are able to handle it. I just want to know one thing: why you?” At this point all Farragute’s fears become real. How could have they been so stupid to think they would have been able to fool such a man? How could have they been so pretentious to think they would have been able to defeat the man who turned into reality his project for a new galactic order all by himself? All these questions in his mind are useless now, the only thing he can do is to give his explanation.</p>
<p>“My Lord, I did all this with one thing in my mind. I was thinking of a conversation we had many years ago, while we were wandering around Theed’s gardens: it was the day after the funerals of Master Qui-Gon Jinn, and we were talking about what happened the previous few days. I asked you what you thought of the whole crisis with the Trade Federation. You said that we were entering difficult times, and for this reason we must have been dynamic and able to understand the historical changes that the little incident between Naboo and the Neimoidians represented on a smaller scale. I thought how tragically true your words were, and those sentences inspired me. When you decided to challenge the decadent republican system I knew I was doing the right thing by fighting on your side. But recently I could not see that progressive spirit in you any more, nor the effective way of leading the Empire of the early times. For this reason I thought that even you, like many other things in our Empire, did not survive those revealing sentences yourself told me many years ago. So I lost the hope you could be ever again the great man you used to be. This is why I unwillingly organized this conspiracy, my Lord". The violent truth of his words is betrayed by the tone of his voice, often unstable, and by the silent tears that started appearing on his face. Seconds, maybe minutes, pass before the Emperor gives his answer. "My friend, you have been honest with me. You cannot imagine how much pain your words are causing to me. I have to admit, among all the people who served me during my whole life you have been the best. You are the only one of our native planet that followed and helped me in my big project, since the very beginning. But I have to disappoint you, because the man you believed in is long dead, probably he never existed. My real face is this, the one you are seeing now".</p>
<p>Erwin now is trying to find a way not to lose everything he always fought for in the Emperor’s words. In front of this hesitation Palpatine shouts "Are you not convinced yet? Do you still believe in the old words of a politician coming from a peripheral planet?" While he says that his wrinkled fingers start emitting blue lightnings, twisting in the air and eventually reach Erwin Farragute, smashing him on the wall at the other end of the room. Erwin is physically and mentally shocked. How could he not be? They just told him that everything he always believed in was a lie. "The Force. Its dark side. The revenge of the Sith against the Jedi knights. This is was has always led me to do everything I have done. And what you call stupid religions and useless relics are very important quests for me! Because the galaxy still offers refuge to the light side of the Force, and I won't be happy until the day the last Jedi will kneel before me or die!" Farragute sees in these words the energy of a senator called Palpatine, but mostly a tangible brutal, inhuman hate. He wishes this is just a terrible nightmare but he knows it isn’t. He has lost any hope, without even having the energy to be desperate. He raises, with his empty gaze and some broken bones.</p>
<p>The Emperor comes close to him, putting his hand on the general's shoulder. His voice is plain. "My dear friend, I am really sorry. You have been the best soldier I could ever had. If I have shown you who I really am it is just because I truly respect you, and I didn't want that you were going to die believing in the lie you have lived in. Goodbye, Erwin Farragute". After saying these words, the Emperor gives Farragute his sniper blaster-rifle, the same weapon that would have killed him tomorrow. Then he leaves the general alone in the large throne room. Erwin can think only of one thing in his mind, now emptied by these traumatic events: he holds his rifle, the perfect creature he built himself, his loyal and infallible brother in arms. The only one who has never betrayed him, not even now that he is going to use it for the last time. He leans the rifle on the ground on the side of the stock, then he reaches for the trigger while the barrel points straight to the middle of his chest. One second later the rifle clashes on the floor, with the barrel falling on a bunch of dusty ashes.</p>
<p>The day after. The award ceremony of General Erwin Farragute is a great day of celebrations for the Empire. The only unusual thing are the perplex and surprised looks of some of the general attending the ceremony on the sides of the main stage. Soon they realize that they would rather forget the idea of the conspiracy, and start considering the clone being awarded by the Emperor as the one and only General Erwin Farragute.</p>
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